This blog replaces the email list that many of you subscribed to for a number of years. One advantage is that you can add information and comment if you wish.

Thursday, 12 July 2012

Voeckler Again

Stage 10

I admit it straight away. In spite of
some quite interesting racing today, (although not terribly
decisive), this will be a short blog. (after) It turned out to be
long but not terribly analytical) I stacked some wood after I
watched the Tour and then off to a party. The party was not big
enough to leave early. Sorry for the hasty blog.

Since not a lot changed, I can just
mention some “heros of the day”. First, Thomas Voeckler. Some
people call him Tommy, but that's not right. In any case Thomas won
the stage. He also took hold of the mountains jersey. I don't think
anyone picked him for that. The guy has a bad knee, he almost didn't
start the Tour. I didn't even check the odds. It is clear there is
still room for surprise in the Tour. On any day. He got in the
break of 20 odd riders, and he was in the group of four (then five,
but Voigt comes later) that was left at the end of the stage. In the
end he beat the other four, and they kept away from the peloton. I
am quite sure many would have picked LL Sanchez to win in the sprint
from that group. However, as they always say, you can't tell who is
tired at the end of a longish mountainous stage. Turns out the guy
who wanted the victory most, and who was the strongest, was Voeckler.
I just can't figure that guy out. He was limping on the stage,
maybe from a brace/icepack of some kind on his knee. Maybe he just
can't walk right, even though he can cycle pretty darn well. How
does he do that? The fact of the matter is he is the most
interesting of all the not quite good enough French riders, and has
been for some time.

But the fifth guy in the final five we
missed entirely on TV, until suddenly he was there. For some reason
I can't figure out, Jens Voigt, the oldest rider in the race, on his
last of his fifteen Tours, had escaped the leftovers of the escape,
and bridged the gap to the four leaders of the stage long escape.
All by himself, he rode many k to catch up with four riders who were
all seriously trying to stay away and win the stage. Think about it,
all by himself he rode faster than four riders where were taking
turns and drafting behind the others for three fourths of the time.
Jens Voigt is my hero, although I do disagree with him often on
cycling politics.

So once again, the escape won the
stage!

Two minor heros of the day are Tejay
and Thibaut. Thibaut seems to still have some energy left after
yesterday. If he keeps this up we won't be the youngest, most
inexperienced, “promising” French rider. He will be a
“revelation of the Tour”. He will already be a serious contender
in more than one kind of race. He is not that bad at riding on his
own, nor in climbing, nor in keeping out of trouble in the first
week.

Tejay is not giving up on the white
jersey either. Although we have to admit that Rein Taaramae,
henceforth Rein, the Estonian from Cofidis, has got the jersey back,
by staying with the rest of the big hitters.

The big hitters, the guys we hoped
would attack made some efforts. Not Evans maybe, he seemed a bit
passive today. But Jurgen Van Den Broucke, hereafter JVDB, and
Nibali did make a move. Nibali attacked with Sagan on the longest
downhill. Sagan is a bit of descender himself. They got a minute I
think, maybe 45 seconds when they got to the flat. Nice to watch
those two descending. The two of them rode pretty fast until the
last Cat 3 hill. Nibali had to go on, Sagan got dropped. Soon enough
after, Nibali was caught by the Sky led dregs of the peloton. I
guess Nibali needs a longer downhill closer to the end. And maybe a
little more help. Still they tried. JVDB tried a little bit
half-heartedly, but got closed down by the Sky Boys.

The Sky boys are still dominating this
Tour. Although Rogers was not very present today, apparently not so
well. None of the Sky team seemed wasted. They pulled back
everything that was thrown at them today. Maybe tomorrow it will
work. As Hinault would say, Attack Attack.

Poor Tony Gallopin. I knew he would
drop lower in the GC (and therefore the young rider competition) when
the climbs got tough, but I was ready to be surprised if he could
keep up on big climbs, as well as short hills and sprints. We will
never know, because it is Survival in the Tour we are talking about
for Tony. Today it was Cancellara who helped Tony. Some kind of
serious digestive problem. Quite common on the Tour always and ever,
with cold water dropping by the litre into the hot stomach and other
organs. Cools down the core body temperature, but is very upsetting.
Eating gels all day. Not sleeping at night. Anyway, he barely made
it in today. He rode with the 'bus”, the “laughing group”,
most of the sprinters. Recently he has been in the yellow jersey
group. I hope he survives, as I am quite curious what he can do.

The leading lurkers are the Radio Shack
Team. While they seem to have no one as a leader, they have five
guys who are just lurking in the top 22, four in the top 16, ready to
make some kind of move. They are in fact, the “best team”,
although they refuse to wear the yellow helmets. No idea why they
won't. Probably some kind of contractual arrangement. I am pretty
sure they will cause some trouble one of these days. No idea what
kind.

Oh yes, I watched the Tour today with
one of the young lads who helped me with the wood after. He got
interested in the Tour last year, big time, every day in front of the
TV, all afternoon, apparently. He is a fanatic BMX, cross, downhill
rider. Just getting interested in road bikes. He does not have one
yet. Wants to climb the Tourmalet in August. My wife is gone to
visit family, so it was just him and me. A different style of
watching, me with my mags, and sheets, and laptop, and maps, him
watching and commenting and questioning, as well as borrowing one of
my mags. He might come over tomorrow too, but no wood and no party,
so I should be able to write a decent blog.

One thing I remembered about the TV
show, another example of Jalabertism, was an interview with David
Millar. David said that yes, if Bradley needed some help in some
way, to get him out of a jam, then David thought he would help him.
Jalabert pretended that somehow this was odd, that Italians or
Spaniards or Frenchmen have never ganged up along national lines. Or
that since David was Garmin and Bradley was Sky, that somehow it was
inexplicable, or odd, or maybe even “bad”, that a rider from one
commercial team would ride for the benefit of a rider from another
commercial team. A week after the Tour, Millar is going to be,
because Cav wanted him to be, on the Olympic Team, trying to win,
along with Bradley, a gold medal for Cav. Jalabert sometimes acts
like a provincial Southern Frenchman. Fignon never did that. Ever.

I thought Scarponi would be more
impressive today. He was in the final four, but I thought he would
get away sooner. I guess he needs a longer hill, nearer to the end.
We shall see what he does tomorrow. Maybe he is one of “those
Italians who never do that well in the Tour”. Nibali seems to be
going very well. He claims Basso is ready to give his all for
Nibali's podium or victory. We shall see. I am betting in Sylvester
Szmyd to help Nibali out-climb Sky. If that can be done.

A bit without reference to any actual
standings, although I will check them out a bit to see if I got
something really wrong, that is it for tonight. Tomorrow should be
more normal, as I should be able to start writing just after the
“apres-Tour” show. Today I even missed some of that to stack
wood. Tomorrow I will show a photo of the stacked wood, but is dark
out tonight and my flash is not htat powerful. Feels good to have
this load of wood in.

Oh yes, I forgot about Pierre Rolland.
He did really well again today. Not for a winner, but for a young
hopeful, a future French contender. He is such a grumpy lad though.
He did well, Thomas won the stage, the guy should be dizzy with joy.
Not our Pierre. He probably hurts a lot when he rides, from his big
crash. So fair enough. I do hope he heals up and makes some move.
And smiles a bit. Its a show, Pierre, play your part.

Tomorrow I will sum up the jerseys
again. Only three in the hunt for young rider now. Still no idea
who really wants the mountains jersey in Paris. Goss still makes it
obvious he wants the green jersey from Sagan, picked away at the gap
today.

About Me

I have been writing and corresponding about the Tour each July for eighteen years. The Tour is a bit of a passion, but riding a bike is what I do all the year around. My club has a site http://www.cyclo-club-bedarieux.com/guppy/